1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to an operation panel with a display unit for use in washing machines, and more particularly to such an operation panel in which names of selected wash, rinse and other steps and progress of each selected step are displayed on the display unit.
2. Description of the prior art
Conventionally, a washing machine comprises an operation panel mounted on its upper portion and various operation switches are provided on the operation panel. These operation switches include a switch for selecting one of a plurality of washing courses having working contents different from one another, switches for setting execution time periods of wash and dehydration steps respectively, and a switch for selecting the number of times of the rinsing. The operation panel further includes light emitting diodes (LED's) for indicating the progress of each step of the selected washing course.
In the conventional washing machine, however, it is difficult for a user to understand whether or not the contents of the selected washing course correspond to those desired. Second, it is difficult to understand the relevancy between the contents of each step to be executed in the selected washing course and operation members for selecting each step. Third, it is difficult to understand changed contents of each step when each step is selected. Fourth, the operation panel is too large in size.